Few top sprinters know better than Frankie Fredericks what it feels like to be the man no one is watching at the end of the 100 metres Olympic final.

The Namibian became the African nation’s first Olympic medal-winner when he won silver in both the 100 metres and 200 metres at Barcelona in 1992. But it was in Atlanta four years later that he really suffered runner-up syndrome as he watched a clean pair of heels belonging first to Donovan Bailey in the 100 metres and then Michael Johnson in the 200 metres.

Both men had to break a world record to finish ahead of him. So in witnessing Usain Bolt set new standards in both distances, Fredericks was in a better place to judge the Jamaican’s right to celebrate than Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, who complained that the new champion should have consoled his beaten rivals with a gentlemanly handshake.

“You cannot tell a guy who has run 9.69 seconds how to react. We should be happy,” Fredericks said, underlining that although he is part of the IOC hierarchy as chairman of the Athletes’ Commission, he is still a competitor at heart.

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“This was a unique moment - a man that as an athlete is making history. It is not like it is a thing that is planned. There are seven other guys who want to be the world’s fastest man. In this case, Usain knew that Asafa Powell beat him two times before, so when he saw that Asafa was not in front, the child in him came out. It is his way of expressing himself.”

The sight of Bolt thumping his chest 20 metres from the finish line of the 100 metres as he eased over in second gear has been the image of the Games. A prostrate Bolt on the track digesting what he had achieved after breaking Johnson’s 12-year record of 19.32 sec to win the 200 metres gold medal in 19.30 a few days later ranks a close second.

Fredericks, universally liked during his sprinting career and now, is in no doubt that the men who followed in Bolt’s wake in both races would not have begrudged him his moment of self-indulgence. “He’s the star. It’s his moment and his victory lap. There are seven others who can hug each other afterwards,” he said. “Michael did the same thing lying on the floor. I had no idea what I did until I watched the tapes. But I wouldn’t have cared. I was in his slip-stream. I set a personal best and was happy.”

He is also in no doubt that Bolt did it cleanly. “I am not sceptical at all. I always believed that the guy next to me was clean because I was clean. I believe that Usain has worked hard,” he said.

“I did not think that Michael’s record would be broken so quickly. I thought maybe my grandchildren would see it. But we knew that he had the talent when he was 17. He’s such a tall guy. All the tall guys like Carl Lewis had a slow start but Usain gets out at the start - he is with them from the beginning.”

Fredericks is leading the drive to educate athletes about anti-doping and wants as much as anybody to separate the bad apples from the good. However he does not share the concerns about Jamaica’s lack of a national anti-doping agency.

“I have faith. The IAAF has a regional centre there and I am sure all the guys are tested,” he said. “People came to Namibia to test me and I think the same for Usain. Even if a country doesn’t have a national doping agency, we have to make sure that the top athletes are continuing to be tested.”

Athletes could not have chosen a better person in Fredericks, a computer science graduate, to represent them among the IOC suits. Although he did not win an Olympic gold medal, he has seen true greatness at much closer quarters than many of them. It is all the approval Bolt needs.